Comedians at Rose-Hulman

I attend Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. It is a technical college in Terre Haute, IN. Until 1995, it was an all male school. By both reputation and subject matter, the school is still predominately male. The school has student organization that has many comedians and musicians perform at the school throughout the year. In my four years, I have noticed that nearly every comedian makes the same jokes. They make jokes about the male/female ratio. Those are funny the first time, but they get old when every comedian tells them. They make gender-related jokes that generally get progressively sexual due to the large male audience. Those get pretty old too. The comedians joke about the smell of Terre Haute. Though I have never really noticed it, Terre Haute apparently has a notable odor.

It seems like the jokes are either overused as in the case of those already mentioned or they rely on their distastefulness. I have noticed these comedians even make fun of their audience. I really have not been impressed by the comedians at Rose. I have found some of the musicians, mentalists, and other performers to be funnier without being distasteful. Here is my message to comedians that will perform at Rose-Hulman. Make yourselves stand out. Don’t use the jokes other comedians will use. Don’t resort to being distasteful. You can be funny without making fun of races, genders, etc. Especially don’t single out people in the audience.